2014 TypeC Health and Exercise Challenge

[kyuuei]

So far, decently strong start. Grapes fill me up like crazy--I ate nearly a pound of them today and found myself full nearly the entire day as a result. Going to have to find something lighter to snack on at school too--I'm thinking seaweed...

My pull up bar is my new favorite toy. That thing worked like a dream--did a few pull-ups on my own, burned out too fast, and immediately swung the bar down and switched to finish the exercise strong each time. Really great invention they did with that. I also need some heavier weights--time to keep my eyes peeled on craigslist.

 

[garbage]

1. Average 60oz water per day (2.5 x my 24oz bottle, which I carry everywhere). I think I already do this, but I don't keep track.
2. One-hour boxing lessons twice per week. I was looking for a good source of cardio and a chance to learn something; bam, there it is.
3. Tone up the ol' abs with crunches three times per week (can't book it for specific days, as my schedule is chaos). I have a cool lil' resistance band for that. Starting at 20 for the first session, then 40, and so on up to 100 per session.
4. Eat 4-5 times per day. I have a tendency to let my blood sugar drop or whatever by not eating enough throughout the day.

Welp, I've been doing 1, 2, and 4; not so much 3. I'll try to start today; I'll just overdo it in order to compensate for not doing it at all.

But then, starting next Thursday or so, I won't be able to do much of 2 or 3 since I'm having a lil' bit of surgery on my stupid hip. After that heals up, though, I can take on some actual goals, like running and stuff, that I can't do now.

So, I gotta drop out of the challenge. Don't cry for me, though; you can assume that I'm continuing to do 1 and 4 forever, because 1 was already ingrained in me and I'm managing 4 very well.

 

[Udog]

But then, starting next Thursday or so, I won't be able to do much of 2 or 3 since I'm having a lil' bit of surgery on my stupid hip. After that heals up, though, I can take on some actual goals, like running and stuff, that I can't do now.

So, I gotta drop out of the challenge. Don't cry for me, though; you can assume that I'm continuing to do 1 and 4 forever, because 1 was already ingrained in me and I'm managing 4 very well.

Ah, sorry about that. I wish you a speedy recovery, though!

 

[INTJMom]

Sorry I missed my Week 2 update...

I did it!

I did my daily Ab Crunches every day and I did my Saturday exercise routine!
I was very proud of myself!

 

[Firebird 8118]

Okay, so here are my goals:

1) Jog/run for at least 1 mile per day - there's a Halfathon in the spring near my area which I plan to register for soon, though in the meantime I'm planning to go to my school's gym building at least 2-3 times per week
2) Drink plenty of water each day (I intend to carry a water bottle with me to campus now)
3) Eat more fresh foods (more fruits and vegetables) and quit/cut down on meat (which is especially bad for my health)
4) Cut down on sweets

[If I think of any more goals, I will be sure to edit this post.]

Okay, so I've been progressing with goals 2, 3, and 4 this week. As for the first - I'm now registered for the Halfathon, but I've been procrastinating on training this week (bad Angel! ). However, I know perfectly well that if I push myself, I can accomplish this too. At least I'm doing some walking/jogging with my puppy (I've now been given the responsibility of taking her out for walks almost every day ).

 

[Randomnity]

I came across a post on reddit with some behaviour modification/habit forming tips that some of y'all might like: (link)

Nothing earth-shattering, but maybe a good reminder of some easy ways to make the habit-forming process a bit more effective.

 

[kyuuei]

^ A lot of those are really awesome!

My progress this week: No lies, it's all screwy. I ate food when it was available, which put me off of some of my goals there, but I couldn't help the busy schedule. Food is lower on my priorities than exercising, though I do want to eat healthier. Working out, I missed 2 days due to the craziness of my current schedule. However, I have some fixes for this.

- Workouts: Do them right after school. No errand running on the way home--nothing--just go straight home and work out. Then I can shower, and eat, and then do any homework. I cannot wait for this damned daylight savings time thing to be done with. I need the sun.
- Physical therapy: It's working out rather well to do it right after working out, but if I don't work out that day I notice I forget to do this too. So, I think I should implement my stretching routine earlier than expected. I'll just wake up earlier each morning, and do a small stretch DVD and my physical therapy then. That way, no matter when I need to go to school, I'll be sleeping and waking at the same times so I can adjust to this schedule. I can study in the gap times.
- Eating: I'm going to have to spring for more convenience foods if I really wish to eat healthier. My idea about the chicken meat was spot on--it works great with everything--but I need more convenience meals set up. A bagged salad instead of making my own, and ploughman style lunches that I can just throw together in the fridge a week in advance.

I'm okay with messing this up for the first couple of weeks.. I'm sort of entertaining an out-of-town guest, and dealing with school, and I knew it'd take me a while to adjust to this schedule and the sheer mass of studying I need to do that I am not at all adjusted to yet. I'll get there though. As school and my home life become more regular so too will my schedule.

 

[Coriolis]

- Eating: I'm going to have to spring for more convenience foods if I really wish to eat healthier. My idea about the chicken meat was spot on--it works great with everything--but I need more convenience meals set up. A bagged salad instead of making my own, and ploughman style lunches that I can just throw together in the fridge a week in advance

When I lived alone, I used to make a big pot of something over the weekend, then freeze it in meal-sized containers to eat for lunches and dinners. Not sure if this will work for you, but it was a great way to make sure I had healthy food around all the time, without having to prepare it every day.

 

[Coriolis]

Third weekly update.

1. Improve eating habits, specifically eating between meals.
Last week I wrote: "Had one day that was not very good - filled with stress and distractions, and too much nibbling. I seemed to eat something between meals, but much less, and less frequently. I suppose that's good. I'm trying to watch when and in what circumstances I eat, so I can break the habit by changing the circumstances, or distracting/otherwise heading off the impulse."

This basically holds for this week as well, except (1) I had lots of veggies on hand this week for healthy evening snacks; and (2) I realized that a good way to fend off the inclination to nibble is to exercise instead. I actually don't feel like eating after exercising, so I'm satisfied by some tea, quiet activities, shower, and bed. So, a bit of progress in understanding, and acceptable on the food front.

2. Get more exercise: at least three times each week, in addition to martial arts practice.
I exercised 4 times this week, plus found a better workout video. It is heavier on the cardio, which I need, and has 3 levels of difficulty/intensity for each exercise combination. I can do level 2 on all of them, and 3 on a couple, so I will work on this until I can comfortably do 3 on everything with good form/control. So, a good exercise week.

3. Weight loss.
None yet.

Edit: I read the link [MENTION=206]Randomnity[/MENTION] posted, and wanted more information on association/dissociation, as it sounded interesting but was mentioned without explanation. I found a decent overview here.

 

[WALMART]

I'm down to 183 from 185. Now five pounds short of my goal.

Another thing I've been doing, I switched from a daily 16oz can of Monster to 8oz cans of Red Bull. Just found out they have Monster in bulk at that size as well. So, there's that.

 

[Udog]

Thanks for the summaries, guys! If you haven't posted yours, please do so. According to my OP, those who haven't done so yet have another week to squeeze them in.

(In hindsight, I should have made the participation list every week, but I was worried about my schedule.)

Here's my summary:

I'm continuing to do incrementally better each week. This week, I exercised for longer and at higher intensity than previous weeks. I was also pretty active over the weekend - walking wise. My only ding is that I missed Friday's workout. I've been working out first thing in the morning, and without fail, if I miss that window I don't work out. So I'll have to double my efforts not to miss the morning window.

My diet was good, but not perfect. No sweets all week! I did have a slice of pizza on 3 days, and 2 soft pretzels (which are like 300 - 400 calories if I recall) total. But for now, they are keeping my craving for sweets in check, so it works.

So far I've been losing 1.5-2 pounds each week. I'll find out Monday how I did this week.

 

[Randomnity]

week 3 summary: have stuck to the exercise every weekday, although sometimes it's been brief/rushed. Did ankle exercises every day except missed Fri again. Might up the difficulty a bit for this week, while still letting myself slide by with short workouts on days I'm really not feeling into it. For the week after I'm still planning on adding a diet goal, but still not 100% sure what it will be. I think more of an emphasis on healthy lunches would be a good one, but I'll need to make the goal more concrete than that.

 

[INTJMom]

I met my goals for the week!

My daughter was here yesterday, so she did the exercise video routine with me!

I am thinking of adding bicep curls before bedtime on Mon-Wed-Fri.

 

[Ivy]

I've lost track of when the week starts and ends and where I am in that.

 

[prplchknz]

Not doing the greatest at eating healthy, but I am trying. I've added more fruits and vegetables and took away a lot of carbs. should have never started counting calories, because I've seen how many calories are in food and it makes me want to eat less. Maybe I could catch amnesia. I should be walking more, though I have stuff to do every day next week so that's good.

 

[Qlip]

Oh, it hasn't been the best week I've fit in two kind of week work out sessions, but I'm back at 163 lbs, so that's good. I've been spending more evening time at work, and at the bar, and I suspect I'm a bit sick. The energy levels have not been high.

 

[Ivy]

Okay just for the sake of simplicity I'm going to make my weeks begin on Mondays. Hope that's okay, [MENTION=4722]Udog[/MENTION]. Let me know if that messes up the flow or anything.

So last week was okay. It was super cold here (at least for here- I know it was way colder further North). That made me want to hibernate, which was good and bad I guess.

Dietary stuff- still going well. No binges. This is remarkable for me, to be tracking my diet and not descend into heavy restriction followed by binge, repeat ad fattum. I set my calorie count on MFP to my TDEE and have been eating at a very modest deficit of a few hundred calories under TDEE. It seems to be enough not to trigger disordered thinking. So far, so good. 7/7.

Movin' around- a mixed bag this week. I did manage to get all my steps in every day, but I only did the 7-minute app twice last week. I'm going to split the difference and call that 5/7.

Sleepin' 'n' stuff- very good. I slept over 8 hours every day last week and kept my stress levels low during the day. I'm actually starting to want to go to bed in the 9:00 or 10:00 hour. 11 feels late to me now (and it is, because I get up at 7 so I'd have to fall asleep instantly to get 8 hours- and I don't). This is huge progress for me and might help explain why I haven't been wanting to binge. I don't feel extremely well-rested still so I'm hoping my neurologist will want to follow up with a CPAP sleep study to see if it improves my quality of sleep. The report from my initial sleep study said that I had "mild obstructive sleep apnea" and that at one point for about a minute or two in the night my blood oxygen level was down to 83%. I'm sure that doesn't help. Anyway, 7/7.

Love and marriage- great. My daughter had a cello concert on Saturday that we were all very excited about. It was the first event she had to audition to get into and she did great. Very proud of her. We celebrated afterwards. My son isn't into anything like that yet (he's just 8) but I loved on him this week too by paying attention to what he's interested in and watching his Youtube videos with him and giving him feedback about those. And I washed his fox hat so he can continue wearing it to school without grossing anyone out, which is important to him. A good week to be married, too. We had a night on our own and we made the best of it with dinner out, a movie in, and snuggling. I feel weird giving any more details about the sex part of things since that was one of my goals so I'm going to leave that out of my check-ins out of respect for the life partner. But anyway. I'm calling this week a 6/7 because I didn't connect as much as I'd like with my parents or siblings.

 

[Udog]

Not doing the greatest at eating healthy, but I am trying. I've added more fruits and vegetables and took away a lot of carbs. should have never started counting calories, because I've seen how many calories are in food and it makes me want to eat less. Maybe I could catch amnesia. I should be walking more, though I have stuff to do every day next week so that's good.

Where did you get the idea that 1,000 calories was a good goal for eating?

Okay just for the sake of simplicity I'm going to make my weeks begin on Mondays. Hope that's okay, Udog. Let me know if that messes up the flow or anything.

I had repped you before I read this. I've been going for Monday-Sunday as a week, personally. Mainly, I'm just keeping track of how many days since the last update. If it's greater than 7 days, I'll Mention ya, if it's greater than 21 I'll remove ya.

And your progress sounds really good, to me! Congrats on sleeping better and feeling more relaxed - that in particular is a huge win.

 

[prplchknz]

Where did you get the idea that 1,000 calories was a good goal for eating?

think someone said to me once that if wanted to lose weight 1,000 was a good number but then again they could have said 1500 and I rounded down.

 

[Udog]

think someone said to me once that if wanted to lose weight 1,000 was a good number but then again they could have said 1500 and I rounded down.

1,500 is a much better number.